The Rom-Com Agenda
The Rom-Com Agenda
By: Jayne Denker
“You’re a hopeless romantic and an incurable optimist. Uh, usually.”
The Rom-Com Agenda is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be— light, funny, no twists or turns, happy ending.
It’s the classic: Girl witnesses Guy getting dumped. Guy becomes depressed and goes on a makeover mission to get his lover back. Girl becomes involved in the makeover process. There’s a cat, a fireplace, and a long wait for Guy to realize Girl is the love of his life. A moment of uncertainty to prove himself. And Boom. Guy and Girl are in love.
I was having a hard time picturing the characters a bit. I think I’d like to see this one as a movie.
As best as my brain could do, I picture Guy (Eli) as a mix between Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. Since Girl (Leah) has a pixie cut and I’m currently watching Once Upon a Time, I can’t help but picture her as Ginnifer Goodwin— the Snow White version.
Eli is surrounded by a group of friends that welcomes the family-less Leah into the fold while coaching Eli on his way back to his ex-lover, Victoria… yeah just saying that name and you know she’s not right for him.
Jenna (and her husband Ben who’s kinda just around)- his overbearing and controlling sister who is also a Vice Principal and I’m not sure I can wrap my mind around that one. I kind of picture her like Judy Greer.
Gray- his bisexual friend who is obsessed with working out and owns a gym. “I never joke about getting ripped and you know it.”
Gillian and Delia- “his tough-love and nurturing fairy godmothers, respectively”
Patrick- just the worst.
Fabrizio- Victoria’s new lover in Europe and is not really a prominent or side character at all, but his NAME! My friends had a plastic owl they kept by their pool and we called it Fabriziowl. So I felt compelled to share this.
This would make a good winter read because it takes place in the North Country of New York and there is snow everywhere all the time.
I think my favorite part of this book was that Leah had a million jobs and kept popping up around what Eli or his friends were doing. I immediately thought of Kirk from Gilmore Girls and was affirmed when Eli called Leah that himself. Big bonus points for me!
The main plot thread is that Eli’s friends are trying to change him so that Victoria will take him back.
“He needs to be the whole package by the time Victoria gets back. Looks. Style. Personality. Culture. Knowledge. That’s it… Eli, we’re turning you into husband material.”
How does one do that? Well besides a haircut and new clothes… by watching all the classic chick flicks, of course. He will learn from the best.
So if you like nostalgic references to all your favorite love stories, you’ll definitely enjoy this book. To be honest, I haven’t seen a lot of the movies referenced… is that bad?
“Would someone mind telling me what I’m supposed to be learning from this dude in tight pants on a dance floor?”
I enjoyed this book. It’s a fast read. It’s got pretty good dialogue and banter. It was just what I was expecting and fits the bill of rom-com.
When you read a rom-com, you’re not looking for everything to be realistic or deep and profound. You just want to be entertained and to relive the excitement of new love.
My three critiques are:
There were two overused words/phrases that annoyed me— ‘Honey’ (every character says this multiple times; there are 30 uses; maybe I’m just not a fan of terms of endearment?) and ‘did, in fact…’ it’s a good phrase if used sparingly, but sticks out like a sore thumb when used too much.
It got a little dumb how Eli was supposedly still in love with Victoria but would do or say things to Leah that ‘just friends’ definitely don’t do. It made it harder to believe that he was oblivious to his connection to Leah at first or to believe that he cared about Victoria at all. It was like he was trying hard NOT to like Leah, which doesn’t make much sense.
Patrick is the literal worst. And I can’t fathom why Leah would ever feel like she needed to help fix Cathy’s house. Why would Cathy care what happens to her house, she’s dead. Cleaning and repairing are terrible jobs and if Patrick is a tool, just let him repair everything. I was annoyed by Leah’s compulsion to help. Maybe because I have a very different personality than her but I would never have felt like I owed that. And her friends should have convinced her of that instead of offering to help out stupid Patrick.
In summation, I would recommend this book if you enjoy rom-coms. If you think rom-coms are stupid, you probably won’t like this book.
[Content Advisory: 1 f-word, 18 s-words, one sex scene and sex implied toward the end once the characters get together but it’s not graphic]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
This book just releases in January 2023. You may preorder a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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